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Bookshare’s Digital Library Paves the Way for Accessible Reading

[From the article: One of the best
kept secrets in the world of publishing stems from nothing more than a lack of
consumer knowledge regarding the copyright laws as they pertain to individuals
with disabilities. As more and more readers tune in to the ever-increasing
numbers of electronic content, a wider understanding of the law is spreading,
especially among educational institutions, so that individuals can take full
benefit from existing legislation such as the Chafee Amendment and the Instructional Materials Accessibility Act. While
organizations have existed for many years to produce expensive and unwieldy
print editions of large-print and Braille-print books, new groups are forming
with the advent of digital publishing to make that accessibility even less
cumbersome. “We operate under the copyright law,” says Betsy Burgess of Bookshare.org, “meaning that
students who have a print disability can have access to books in alternate
formats without having to purchase them or compensate the author. Qualifications
for this purpose are things like a visual impairment, a physical disability, or
a severe learning disability like dyslexia, just to name a few.”]